Occupy Oakland protesters seemed to be braced for just about anything
that could arise – except, evidently, the raging issues of immigration
and deportation.
Now those issues are on their radar on the heels of the arrest Monday
of a fellow protester, Francisco Ramos-Stierle, who apparently is in
the U.S. illegally.
The Mexican native, 36, was arrested during the police sweep of the
encampment outside City Hall, and is being detained because of a
federal immigration hold.
A group of Occupy Oakland protesters has rallied around his case,
while trying to learn about the complexities of immigration in the
process.
On Monday night, back at Frank Ogawa Plaza, where protesters had been
evicted 12 hours before, a small group of occupiers held an assembly
to discuss, among other cases, Ramos's detention.
The group discussion focused on how to bail out Ramos, who is known as
"Pancho," from jail. People on immigration holds typically cannot be
bailed out, his supporters learned.
One participant repeatedly pointed out his case is different than
those of other arrested protesters because he's an immigrant without
legal papers.
"But isn't Oakland a sanctuary city?" the moderator of the meeting
finally asked, apparently unaware of the Secure Communities, a federal
program under which local authorities run the names and fingerprints
of people arrested through a database to check their legal status.
Since 2010, Alameda County has agreed to collaborate with Secure
Communities.
Friends and supporters of Ramos held a rally outside a different jail,
in downtown Oakland, on Tuesday. A spokesperson for the jail explained
that the Alameda County Sheriff has no control over federal
immigration holds.
Still, by Tuesday, a "liberate Pancho Ramos" letter had been signed by
100 people, just two of them Latinos.
"Pancho's situation represents an important point of connection
between the aims of the Occupy Movement and the immigration questions
that have become singularly critical in the national dialogue," reads
a press release sent out by the California Immigration Policy Center.
In that sense, "Pancho" could serve the progressive causes he had
passionately embraced, as Latinos have not been strongly engaged by
the movement.
Suzy Hernández knows that well.
A day before police dismantled the Occupy Oakland encampment,
Hernández, an Oakland native born in Los Angeles, was there. At that
hour, around 4 p.m., she was the only Hispanic in Frank Ogawa Plaza,
in the city's downtown.
When she got requests from Spanish-language news outlets, she quipped:
"Looks like I'm the only one who the media can find to talk about
Latinos in Occupy Oakland."
In recent weeks, she said, she already had given interviews to the two
Spanish broadcasting stations in the U.S. Hernández contrasted the
Latino absence in Oakland with the situation in Los Angeles: "At
night, they play ranchero songs in the encampment of Occupy LA."
For his part, Ramos is no stranger to activism. In 2004, he got a
grant from the University of California Institute for Mexico and the
United States (UC MEXUS) to pursue a Ph.D. in astrophysics at UC
Berkeley. Four years later, he withdrew from the school in protest, he
said at that time, over the university's "involvement with the
production and manufacture of nuclear weapons."
Nowadays, Ramos is homeless.
"Friends host him and when they can't, he lives out in the woods,"
reads a letter that Samir Patel posted on Change.org, trying to draw
the attention of Rep. Barbara Lee to the case.
Ramos was arrested when Oakland police evicted – a second time –
protestors from the Occupy encampment.
One photo, showing him meditating while two police officers pick him
up from the ground, circulated widely in many news outlets.
Hernández said some of her Latino friends refuse to participate in the
Oakland Occupy movement because they feel they would be used by white
protesters, who, she said, usually direct the crowd.
José Sandoval, a long-time community activist in the Bay Area, said
that a lack of Latino political consciousness is the reason behind the
small numbers of Hispanic occupiers.
For María Jiménez, another supporter of Occupy Oakland, the reason for
the dearth of Latinos at the protest is, basically, that they are
afraid of being arrested.
Francisco Barradas is a freelance reporter in California. He can be
reached at paco@bici.us.
------
her Latino friends refuse to participate in the Oakland Occupy
movement because they feel they would be used by white protesters???
The animals are pairing off!!!
On Nov 22, 8:41 am, Keith In Tampa <keithinta...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Thank you PlainOl!
>
> On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 4:09 PM, plainolamerican
> <plainolameri...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> >http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2011/11/18/occupy-wall-street-a...
>
> > --
> > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
> > For options & help seehttp://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
>
> > * Visit our other community athttp://www.PoliticalForum.com/
> > * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
> > * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
>
>
>
> KeithAtOccuyD C 11 17 2011 .jpg
> 315KViewDownload
--
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